The Yankees seem to always catch lightning in a bottle when it comes to old veterans: remember the year that Aaron Sele worked out for them?

Don't count them out.

__________________"Hope...may be indulged in by those who have abundant resources...but its nature is to be extravagant, and those who go so far as to stake their all upon the venture see it in its true colors only when they are ruined."-- Thucydides

I don't know if Baltimore is as good as they played last year or not. My gut tells me they aren't. How many extra inning games did they win in a row? Something like 18?...that's so far beyond normal as to make me think that simply won't happen again.

Lip

You really hate Baltimore for some reason. They have a ton of young talent on that team. Their pitching is excellent. They're legit.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by shoota

I'm not counting this homerun or his 3 RBI from today's game because of the game situation. I'm not counting his pinch hit solo homerun in a blowout win in Colorado. In my book, Crede has 2 less home runs than his statistics show, 4 less RBI, and one less walk (the one where he pinch hit for Uribe after coming in with a 3-0 count and taking one pitch).

The Blue Jays were hanging around .500 last year and were close to leading the league in runs scored until Lawrie and Arencibia hit the DL. Soon after, they took a real nosedive when Bautista was lost for basically the rest of the season in July. If the offense can stay healthy, they're even more potent this year. The rotation looks good, but their bullpen was awful last season. That's the big question mark. Right now, I think it'll end up:

You really hate Baltimore for some reason. They have a ton of young talent on that team. Their pitching is excellent. They're legit.

I don't hate Baltimore and I'm willing to concede they are an up and coming team in that division. I don't see them as the favorites though. They could catch lightning in a bottle but I think a wild card is more likely as their potental than anything. They could be anywhere from 2nd to 4th in that division though.

"Injuries to the rotation last year?" Nobody in the rotation got hurt last year! They only missed one start! The only time someone got hurt was when Cueto went down with back spasms in Game 1 of the Division Series.

Their division is like 50 times easier to win. Sure, we have a much better team. But because of the Tigers we're essentially competing with the Rangers, A's, Angels, and all five teams out east for two playoff spots. There's probably a dozen teams in the AL better than anyone in the NL Central. Their odds and our odds are both pretty close to even because of this.

How is their division easier to win? They have the Cardinals and Reds, 2 of the best teams in baseball in it.You must be out of your mind to say their are a dozen team in the AL better than the Reds and Cardinals. I don't know if you have noticed but the NL has pretty much won the World Series every year lately , and the Cardinals have as potent a lineup as just about anyone , and good pitching. Oh yeah, just won the series over Texas a couple years ago.

I'm not so sure about that. The Reds won 97 games last year, and have improved themselves (offensively, at least) by adding Shin-Soo Choo. Sure, they fell flat in the Division Series, but anything can happen in a short series. As it stands right now, I wouldn't take many AL teams over Cincinnati. Honestly, I'd say only Detroit and Washington have more complete teams in all of baseball at this point.

As far as the AL East goes, I wouldn't be surprised if only the division winner went to the playoffs. I can see three playoff teams coming out of the AL West, if only for the presence of the abysmal Astros. The A's, Angels and Rangers will all feast on them since they'll play them 18 times each.

The Cardinals have a great lineup and solid pitching as well, and they have defeated the AL twice recently in the series. How a team like that gets no respect, with 2 rings, is mystifying.

I think the Reds might be one of the favorites to take it all this year, depending on the pen and how Chapman does as a starter. The Cardinals will have a tougher time without Carpenter, but they are still capable of making a run. Neither team has the Astros to pound on and build their record anymore, but can still do damage.
As far as our division goes, the Tigers will still be tough. They get Martinez back, but I think they might miss Young's bat more than they think, even if they won't miss his glove one bit. Nothing changes until we figure out how to beat those guys. KC might be tougher now that they finally have some starting pitching, but I'll believe it when I see it. Cleveland set themselves up with some nice pitching improvements, as did the Twins, so they could be spoilers. I think the NL Central is more top-heavy with WS contending teams, but top to bottom, I think the AL Central might be a little tougher.
Back to the topic, it was surprising to see that the Yankees didn't make any drastic moves, but Girardi knows how to handle those guys, they need their young pitchers to step up, but can still be dangerous.